I swim when the ice has melted and make a fire when it's cold.

Golo-Dheh

Post navigation

[Sombah K’e, Denendeh] – The Concerned Dene of Denendeh stand in solidarity with other First Nations, non-status Indians, Metis, Inuit and settler Canadians who oppose the legislation the Harper Government has put forward in Bill C-45 and other bills.

We stand on the path of our ancestors and hold strong to our Nation to Nation relationship through Treaties 8 and 11. The Dene have always been and continue to be a sovereign people. The unilateral passage of Bills C-45, C-27, S-2, S-6, S-8, C-428, S-207, S-212 was done without adequate and proper consultation with First Nations. These proposed changes are a violation of our Treaty Rights. The passage of these Bills is another colonial act that speaks to a small segment of society. Changes to any legislation must be conducted in the spirit and intent of our Treaties, with both Nations having equal say.

This legislation represents another attempt by the Canadian state to undermine Indigenous sovereignty and the inherent right to land and resources from First Nations peoples. There are many examples of other countries moving towards sustainability, and we demand sustainable development as well. We believe in healthy, just, equitable and sustainable communities.

We support #IdleNoMore and oppose the legislation the Harper Government has put forward. We call on the leaders of Denendeh to voice our concerns. We ask all the people of Denendeh to raise their own voices in unison.

Friday August 17th, I put my hide to soak in brain water. This time I warmed water and shaved half a bar of sunlight soap into the warm water to desolve then I added the fermented moose brain. Let this … Continue reading →

Yellowknife July 18th-28th

I visited with my friend Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox author of ‘Finding Dahshaa: Self-Government, Social Suffering, and Aboriginal Policy in Canada’ (you can find the book at Amazon.ca). I checked out her urban tanning space in the city and put a hide on smoke for a little while and helped her as much as i could with softening/scraping.

Working on moosehides is ideally done in the bush or close to the bush for space, access to materials you don’t have to worry about city fire permits and stuff. There are also a lot of distractions in town/city. On my way over to her house i stopped at winks and bought myself some sparkling water and treats, which I later thought was kind of funny. When I’m at home working on my hides its water, coffee or bush tea made over the fire. In Trout Lake I was so excited when’ pop’ was finally available at the store. Stephanie kind of has the urban moosehide tanning dream set-up. nice backyard great rocks, her boys were playing outside while we worked. We talked about the 2 styles what we’re thinking about doing next and who to call for help to move our hides along.

During the weekend in Yellowknife I helped my Sister, my cousin Denia and Nicole Peltz out with childcare while they fed the hungry masses at Folk on the Rocks. They cooked up BBQ ‘Moofalo’ sandwiches (buffalo/moose), fresh Trout with aoli sandwiches with a side of couscous salad. AMAZING, I ate so much and had a tonn of fun playing with the kiddos, i didn’t get to watch much of the performances but a great Folk experience anyway. *you will have another opportunity to get a taste of the yumminess at the ‘Ramble and Ride’ stuff down in oldtown next weekend.

While on that side of Denedeh Lesley Johnson and I decided to visit Tania Larsson in Lutsel Ke where she is working on her moosehide tanning project. Hit her name it’ll take you to her blog!!!!! My boys didn’t come with me on this short trip it’s different not having them around while I work on hides on the other hand I was able to help Tania out for 11 hours straight. My Granny Judith Buggins is from Lutsel Ke my mother Celine Antoine was born in the old village. I was blessed to go and see where the little cabin once stood a couple of years ago when I traveled by boat to the Dene Nation assembly with my Dad and older Brother Deneze. The lake was so calm just inviting us to go fishing or boating, it was very tempting and an over night visit just wasn’t long enough. I learned a couple of new tricks on how to soften moosehide, using a birch plank and bone tool, using a rope and also a wider scraping tool. With 2 people sharing the work its easier and fun. Lutsel Ke was like a dream, so beautiful, calm, raspberry patches growing all over town, all the children playing, the lake just amazing… the Elder Tania is working with Madline Catholique was so welcoming, I loved how she showed us how she taught us, it reminded me of my Granny.

softening with bone tool on birch plank.

a perfectly twisted hide knot. Lutsel Ke style

rope softening

Tania and I in Lutsel Ke.

After a long day working on moosehides we had a glorious sunset and midnight fresh fish fry best Lustel Ke visit EVER.!

Golo-Dheh

It took a couple days to prepare my smoking area and after the first go at everything I need to improve a few thing. My twisitng stick needs to be more secure and my drying pole is on uneven ground and a bit high. There is so much to know and look for when setting up a tanning area so thankful my parents are happy to have my set up in their yard. My parent have been so supportive and encouraging mahsi I love you so much. I soaked my hide over night friday in the brain water, saturday morning I punched the hide with my bone tool scraped and stretch with my The Teh then twisted and stretched it. It became late so I folded my hide up for the night to work on Sunday.

My hide all twisted up on Saturday night.

This hide is the one my dad and brother Tumbah harvested last fall and the one I worked on in Trout with maggie. At frist I thought it was almost ready for it’s final smoking….

Sunday scraping and drying my Moosehide.

But on Sunday when it was drying out a couple of hard areas came up I will tube smoke this one once more and do another round of soaking and punching.

Gathering…

I have some e-denitu(rotten wood) for smoking my hide but it’s not enough so Monday the boys and I went for a drive ont he highway with my Dad. We snacked on wild strawberries, raspberries and found a good amount of e-denitu I’m hoping it’s the good stuff according to Oz my 4 year old it’s the best stuff in the woods. We also picked some roots. It was a good day.

I have to head over to yellowknife to shoot for the documentry project and hit up Folk on the Rocks I’m bringing a moosehide with me in case I get a chance to do some work on it. It’s a hide that was started out at the Dechinta Bush University a couple of summer ago in the Sahtu Dene Style.

Tanning area. So far I been doing what I know and learning from my mentors in their space, their work areas. I need to set up my space to finish my moosehides, easier said then done. I need a twisting post and stick, a cleaned pole to dry my hide and a moosehide smoking area(with a tarped tri-pod covering) or a beautiful canvas teepee… *sigh. Someday my Dene girl dreams will come true.

Twisting post and a twisting stick. I took a drive with my mom, my niece Dahtlea and my two boys to look for a tree with a strong fork in it. Hmmm a tree with a strong fork…. I’m thinking birch. We found a very green beautiful birch with a strong fork and i chopped it down. Well what I found out later and what I was thinking at the time was that the post needs to be dry. I hope my very green birch will work all right. The sap isn`t super sticky and it looks so nice and took me FOREVER to widdle down and it`s strong. I still have a little work to do on my twisting stick.

Twisting post & Stick with drying pole up and ready to go.

My niece Dahtlea came over to help and watch me make the moose brain water for my hide to soak in over night. She stayed and helped dig out the fire pit for smoking the hides.

Stirring my moose brains.

Mixing the brains in the water, the fermented brain is put in a cotton cloth and worked into the water.

Soaking my Moosehide in the brain water for the night.

I wanted to keep my tanning area kind of all in the same area so I choose to dig out a hole near my other stations. I used cement cinder block thingies for the pit. I may put some gravel on the bottom of my fire pit tomorrow. TOMORROW, I need to find a young birch with lots of branches to loop my hide on while I punch and stretch it after it`s overnight soaking. I also need to find willows to surround my fire pit.

Fire pit for hide smoking with stretching frame, twisting post and drying pole in the back.

Today I’m back at the moose hide tanning, building a smoking area in my parents yard, and fixing up a final scraping area. This weekend I hope to be final smoking one of my moosehides. I do need to gather … Continue reading →

I have been working towards this portion of the Golo Dheh project for a while and have been so excited, a thought coming into being, creating, moving forward, expanding, learning, growing. We arrived in Sambaa K’e (Trout Lake) on Monday May 28th. I had prepared 3 moosehide to begin the smoking process with Maggi Jumbo my relative in Trout. I decided to bring 2 of the hides I prepared. The first hide that I worked in the style of my Granny Judith Buggins the hide is from the moose my dad and brother Tumbah harvested last Fall. The other hide I brought was the 3rd hide I worked on a Mouse Brother moose the smaller one.

Sunday May 27th 3rd moose hide dry scraped.

Getting on the plane to Sambaa K’e (Trout Lake NT) to work moose hides with Maggie Jumbo.

Monday May 28th looking for E’danitu (rotten wood). Maggie Jumbo

Helen Kotchea and Maggie Jumbo taking the Mah Toh off of a moose hide in the Sambaa K’e style.

Stretching a moose hide up in the Maggie Jumbo style.

Scraping the hide on the hair side with the E’woh.

Working together to finish all the moose hides.

Tania Larsson and Maggie getting the last bit on moose hair off making this a done deal.

With each moose hide I’m getting better at scraping it. It is supposed to be scraped so the hide is an even thinness and with the hides I’ve done I have been learning to see what a good scraped hide looks like.

Well this is a super quick photo update.

Monday: flew in, got settled, went out on the boat, looked for e’denitu, started to soak 2 ‘green’ moose hides.

Tuesday: Started to take the Mah toh off of the first hide. We worked at it all day and finished late at night. We also put our hides we prepared to soak in water.

Wednesday: in the morning we laced up the first moose hide we worked yesterday. We also started to take the Mah Toh off the second ‘green’ moose hide.

Thursday (today) May 31: we scraped the moose hide and finished it late tonight.